Ordinary Bitter Tasting

When brewing a bitter a few weeks ago, I had in mind a flavorful but low-alcohol beer that would drink well in hot weather. Since it's now about 80F in my un-AC'ed place, it seems logical to see how well the bitter goes down when summer heat is in full swing.

Appearance: Deep copper in color. Moderate chill haze, and a small head despite a fairly aggressive pour. No lacing.

Aroma: I get some caramel, bready notes, with perhaps a tiny bit of earthy English hop aroma. A hint of sweetness. The aroma improves as it warms to the proper serving temperature of around 55F.

Flavor: I would say that it has a grainy, earthy maltiness, with a touch of bitterness at the end. Moderate to low sweetness. It has kind of a bread like character. Quite pleasant in my view.

Mouthfeel: Low carbonation, and despite its low gravity the beer does not have a thin or watery mouthfeel. In fact to me the body seems moderate. I think its the slight sweetness combined with the bready quality that gives it body. Perhaps the body is not light enough to be thirst-quenching, but hey, it's beer, not Gatorade.

Overall: A flavorful but low alcohol English session beer with a malty, slightly sweet and bread like character. Not much hop presence. I would say that it goes reasonably well in the summer but would be a good session beer at any time of the year. Since it's not spritzy and dry it may not be as refreshing as a Hefeweissen or Pils in the summer.

 I don't think I would change anything besides of course trying to reduce the chill haze.

King Titus Clone Attempt

I have decided to enter my homebrew clubs clone competition, for which I will be attempting to clone King Titus, a robust porter from Maine Beer Company. At some point in early August the club will go over to the brewery, where the pros at Maine Beer will judge how close the clone attempts come to the real thing. The recipe from the brewery is this:

Color – Dark Chocolate
ABV – 7.5%
O.G. – 1.075
Malt – American 2-Row, Caramel 40L, Caramel 80L, Munich 10L, Chocolate, Roasted Wheat, Flaked Oats
Hops – Centennial, Columbus

The LHBS didn't have roast wheat, so I made a substitution, and I wanted to use some of the Warrior hops, so again I made a substitution. Even if it doesn't turn out like the commercial beer, I hope to get a nice chocolatey porter out of it.

King Titus Clone Attempt
6.250# US 2-Row
1# Munich 10L
1# Flaked Oats
8oz US Crystal 40
8oz Chocolate Malt
6oz US Crystal 80
3oz Chocolate Wheat
3oz Roast Barley

Mash at 152F, 75minutes

5/8oz Warrior, 13.7% AA, 60min
1/4oz Columbus, 15.2% AA, 15min
1/4oz Columbus, 15.2% AA, 5min

US-05

 Expected FG/OG/IBUs/ABV: 1.070, 1.017, 46, 6.8%

Brew Day 6/23/13
Prepped a starter from some washed yeast the day before the brewday. By the time I started heating the strike water the starter was slowly fermenting.

Actual mash temp was 152F.

A few minutes before the boil started.

Got 1.8 gallons of first runnings. Got about 4.2 gallons of pre-boil wort. The pre-boil OG was 1.052. If I get the post-boil volume down to 3.12 gal. I should be at the right gravity.

Around 3.2 gallons went into the fermenter. I pitched the decanted starter when the wort was around 70F. The OG was 1.064, a little low. Arg!

6/24/13 By 5:30pm, the beer was actively fermenting while the carboy was sitting in a water bath at 64F.

6/25/13, 6pm. Still bubbling but at a fairly slow pace. Ambient temps remain at 64F.

7/11/13. Bottled, aiming for 2.2 volumes of CO2. Got 34 x 12oz bottles. Did not have enough left in the bottling bucket to take a hydrometer sample.